Geographic Distribution of the Killings and Overview
Our dataset:
This dataset, police_killings (found on Fivethirtyeight.com), shows trends in police violence (specifically killings) across racial/ethnic groups, as well as geographical, monetary, and educational tendencies among victims. For our Flex Dashboard, we chose to look at two questions. One, being, does geography play a role? The other, which race was most commonly the victim of these police brutality killings?
Making connections:
At first, our group was surprised to see that the region where the most amount of killings took place was the midwest and that the race that was killed the most was ‘white’. However, we made the connection that the Midwest is not as diverse such as other places in the United States, especially states with larger cities, so the data makes sense.
Geographic Distribution of the Killings
As you look closer into each cluster, you can see that many of the clusters are centered around cities. Each area has its own story to tell as you explore the map, but in some cases some of the killings happen within blocks of each other within massive cities. With further research, this may not be a coincidence and it could be that certain neighborhoods (classified both racially and economically) are more likely to have police violence than others.
Most Killings per 100,000 State Residents (United States, 2015)
Where in the United States are the most people killed per capita?
We found the state with the most amount of killings per 100,000 state residents to be Oklahoma, followed by Arizona and Nebraska, all located in the Midwestern/ Western region of the country.
The bar chart to the left displays the top 12 and bottom 13 states with the killings per 100,000 proportions, along with the top 3 most populated states in the country (CA, TX, FL). This graph includes 2 important dimensions, the proportion of police killings to the overall state population per 100,000 residents, which is shown by the length of the bar on the x axis. Additionally, the total killings in each state is displayed by the color of each bar- the lighter the bar the more killings there were.
Police Killings By Race
Which race was most commonly the victim of these police brutality murders?
Those who identified as white were the victims of 51% of police brutality killings in 2015 with a total of 236 deaths. Those who identify as black followed second at 29% and 135 deaths.
Based on preconceived stereotypes, we initially expected there to be more black victims than any other race, but it is important to remember that the United States is a majority white country. So even though there are more white victims, that doesn’t mean that they are being killed at a rate proportionate to that of their population percentage.
Racial Disparities in the Dataset
Racial Disparities
This dumbbell graphic shows two points for each race; a population proportion and a percentage of police killings. If the percentage of police killings is higher than the population proportion for that race, then they are being disproportionately killed by police officers. There can be issues when classifying groups of people by race and ethnicity because many people identify as a mix/ more than one. But even when considering that factor, black individuals are significantly more likely to be killed by police officers than any other race. Native Americans and “others” are the only other race to be disproportionately killed by police officers, but nowhere near the margin that black people face. Hispanic/ Latino and Asian/Pacific Islander has a higher population proportion than percentage of police killings but only by a small margin. White people clearly have the largest advantage having their percentage of police killings much father behind than their overall population proportion.
Were the Victims Armed?
Concluding Remarks
This data set is about an extremely tragic reality in America today, citizens being killed by the people that are supposed to protect them. As stated earlier, these numbers do not, and cannot tell the entire story, but they can help to detect trends and disparities among the population. As expected people of color, and black people especially, are killed at a disproportionate rate in America today. This is a small dataset from only one year, yet it still has a powerful message of how much pain is being caused by this violence. We tried to investigate and explain as many relevant variables in this data set as possible to tell a well rounded and reflective story of the reality in America. Sometimes it is easy to get comfortable in your bubble and only care about and pay attention to the issues affecting you. But as students and as citizens, we must use this knowledge and these tools we have learned to take action and help to educate others. Change must happen in order to achieve justice.